The Synthetic and Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council (SRTEPC) Chairman, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, approached to the Hon’ble Prime Minister appealing for announcement of a special Package for growth of the Manmade Fibre Textiles sector, in view of the recurrence of the covid-19 pandemic and severe impact of the second wave on the MMF textile segment.
Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC mentioned that both the year 2019-20 and 2020-21 have been very challenging for the Manmade fibre textiles segment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Textile activities as well as exports have been severely impacted during last two years. The estimated exports of Manmade fibre textiles during 2020-21 show a decline of – 19% as compared to 2019-20. Exports of all the four segments of Manmade fibre textiles have witnessed decline, such as fibre – 28%, yarn – 15%, fabrics – 18% and made-ups -23%, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, informed.
He also indicated that though the latest DGCI&S data shows improvement in exports this is mainly because of very low base that was witnessed in the previous year. However, the ground situation in textiles export is alarming since outbreak of covid – 19 pandemic, he stated. Therefore, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC appeals to the Hon’ble Prime Minister on behalf of the entire MMF textile fraternity to kindly announce a special Covid-19 pandemic Relief package. The SRTEPC Head also appealed to the Minister of Finance, Minister of Commerce & Industry and Minister of Textiles for the Special Package requesting to consider favourable orders on the following measures:
- Release all the pending dues of the exporters under Drawback, MEIS, IGST, ROSL, RoSCTL, TUFS on an urgent basis.
- Grant moratorium for repayment of principal and interest for at least one year.
- Special Export incentive of 3% on fibre & yarn, 4% on fabric, 5% on made-ups for at least 6 months or till the impact of coronavirus subsides and global markets stabilise.
- Allow option to restructure loans for one year without any additional charges/ penal interest etc. by Banks.
- RBI to relax NPA norms for 6 months, so that no default will be eligible for being termed as an NPA account.
- Provide at least 35% to 40% of the workers’ salary payments for a period of 12 months to protect the MSMEs reeling under the severe impact of COVID-19.
- Extend ECGC support to address the cancelled and deferred orders.
- Include entire MMF textile value chain viz., fibres, yarns, fabrics, made-ups, etc under RoDTEP Scheme & declare RoDTEP rates immediately with a minimum rate of 7%. Also factor in the MEIS benefits within the RoDTEP as objective of the MEIS was provide relief to exporters to offset infrastructural inefficiencies and associated costs.
- MMF textile segment is highly capital intensive and important Segment for the growth of Indian textile industry. Therefore, to sustain investment and encourage new ones, it is requested to extend the EPCG Scheme for the next 5 years.
- Rectify the Inverted Duty Structure prevailing in the MMF textile segment by introducing a uniform 5% GST rate for entire value chain in the MMF textiles segment.
- Continue the Interest Equalization Scheme (IES) benefit for exports by covering the entire MMF textile value chain viz., fibres, yarns, fabrics, made-ups, etc. & enhance the IES to 5%. Further it is requested to extend 3% interest subvention on working capital.
The SRTEPC Head informed that the above-mentioned measures are very important and urgent to help sustain the MMF textiles segment which has been in an extremely bad shape because of the second wave of covid-19 pandemic. If the above-mentioned points are favourably considered by the Government there will certainly be positive results both in production as well as in exports of Manmade fibre textiles, Shri Dhiraj Raichand Shah, Chairman, SRTEPC informed.
